Things were supposed to be different this season. With an appeal system in place for players to state their case, Brendan Shanahan and the NHL’s Department of Player Safety could be stricter with disciplinary decisions, and really crack down on dirty, dangerous, dastardly plays.

Patrick Kaleta’s hit on Brad Richards on Sunday night was all that. Plus, as a top-notch recidivist, having been suspended two games for boarding in 2009 and four games for head-butting last season, it was time for the Buffalo Sabresagitating winger to find himself on the business end of Shanahan’s gavel, with a penalty harsh enough that maybe it would be time to give that appeal system a go. This was a notoriously reckless player not only crossing the line, but pouring gasoline on the line and setting fire to it.

Kaleta has been told to take a seat twice in the past by the NHL, and has not gotten the message to clean up his act. Why would a five-game suspension, the ban that Shanahan handed down to Kaleta on Monday, be any different?

As the puck skittered toward the boards, Richards went to chase it, a step ahead of Kaleta, who delivered a two-handed shove right to the numbers on the Rangers center’s back and sent him flying into the wall. Fortunately, Richards was able to extend his left hand to make that his first point of contact with the boards, followed by his left shoulder, and then his head. Had the 32-year-old Richards been a split-second slower in bracing himself, he may have needed a stretcher to get off the ice. Instead, he was able to continue playing, although Richards did sit out New York’s practice on Monday.

The most ridiculous part of the NHL’s disciplinary system remains that Kaleta’s five-game suspension would have been longer if his victim had been a player with inferior reflexes to Richards, and there had been a severe injury on the play. Shanahan noted in his video explanation of the suspension (the best thing Shanahan has done on the job is bring transparency to the disciplinary operation)that Richards was shaken up on the play, but returned to the game soon after, and completed it.

Of course, if Richards develops concussion symptoms in the days to come after the impact of his head against the boards, it’s too late for Shanahan to change his decision.

So, Kaleta gets a veritable slap on the wrist, losing $76,219.25 in salary while he sits out before being allowed back on the ice to continue creating mayhem. That’s the way the system has worked in the past, and the way it appears it will continue to work.

Among the NHL’s rogues gallery, the only exception to date has been Pittsburgh Penguins winger Matt Cooke, who was suspended for 10 regular-season games and the first round of the 2011 playoffs for an elbow to the head of Ryan McDonagh. It took that ban, the fifth of Cooke’s career, to see the destructive path he was on.

”In the past I’ve been very defensive and have argued my point (in disciplinary hearings),” Cooke said then. The (NHLPA) talks, they argue their point, and your agent gets on and defends you a lot. I realize and understand more so now than ever that I need to change.”

Cooke did change. He cut his penalty minutes from 129 in 67 games in 2010-11 to 44 in 82 games last season. This season (entering Monday’s action), Cooke has been assessed 22 PIM in 22 games; six minor penalties and a 10-minute misconduct that basically amounted to officials protecting him from the Ottawa Senators by removing him from the game after his skate blade accidentally sliced Erik Karlsson’s Achilles tendon.

For other players, a suspension can send the right message. Philadelphia Flyers winger Brayden Schenn had to sit out one game in January for charging Anton Volchenkov of the New Jersey Devils. Schenn, who had 34 penalty minutes in 54 games as a rookie last season, has been whistled only twice in 19 games since his suspension, for a pair of tripping minors.

Schenn messed up with his hit on Volchenkov, did his time, and learned his lesson. Kaleta had that chance already. Twice. Now a third time. How many more?

For the Department of Player Safety to actually promote safety, Shanahan cannot be afraid to rule with an iron fist. The point is not merely to punish infractions, because the damage is already done. It’s about preventing repeat incidents, the kind that Kaleta keeps finding himself in the middle of.

The Rangers, smartly, did not retaliate after Sunday night’s incident. Up in Boston, the Bruins did, as Zdeno Chara earned himself 17 penalty minutes for delivering vintage-style justice to Alexei Emelin’s face for a cross-check on Tyler Seguin. With their best defenseman sequestered, the Bruins let the game, and the Northeast Division lead, slip away to the Montreal Canadiens.

Emelin did not even receive a penalty for what he did to Seguin, which highlights a further problem with how the NHL handles safety.

When the officials on the ice miss cheap shots, and the league office lets repeat offenders off lightly, it’s no wonder many players feel they have to take matters into their own hands. That only increases the level of risk in a sport that is dangerous enough when it’s played the right way.